The Trail Went Cold - Episode 425 - Christine Schultz, Part 1

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

May 28, 1981. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 30-year old Christine Schultz, the ex-wife of police officer Fred Schultz, is shot to death inside her home and Fred’s current spouse, Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek, is soon charged with the crime. Even though Laurie insists that she was framed by the police and the evidence against her was planted and fabricated, she is convicted of first-degree murder and receives a sentence of life imprisonment. In 1990, Laurie manages to escape from prison with the assistance of her new spouse before they are recaptured in Canada, but even though Laurie continues to maintain her innocence, she is allowed to walk free after agreeing to enter a plea of “no contest” to the crime. Was Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek actually responsible for the murder of Christine Schultz or was she the victim of an elaborate frame-up job? This week, “The Trail Went Cold” releases the first part of a special two-part episode about one of the most controversial and sensationalistic murder cases of all time. Special thanks to listener Brent Amelingmeier for narrating the opening of this episode. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Bembenek "Run Bambi, Run" by Kris Radish https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/1991/10/was-bambi-framed https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-trouble-for-dr-phil-guest/ https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/01/18/bembenek-case-takes-new-turns-with-dna-and-dr-phil/ https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/us/22bembenek.html https://web.archive.org/web/20141019065121/http://www.milwaukeemag.com/article/6212011-laurieslastdays https://www.jsonline.com/story/life/2023/09/12/lawrencia-laurie-bembenek-run-bambi-run-facts-murder-escape-from-prison-cause-of-death/70794066007/ https://www.jsonline.com/picture-gallery/life/2023/09/07/laurie-bembenek-tried-for-murder-in-1982/70791199007/ "Run Bambi Run" Podcast "The Trail Went Cold" will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Boston North Shore in Boston, Massachusetts on July 18-20, 2025. To get a 20 % discount on tickets, please our specialized promo code, “ROBIN20”, by visiting https://www.truecrimepodcastfestival.com/. “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	May 28, 1981, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
0:06.1	30-year-old Christine Schultz, the ex-wife of police officer Fred Schultz, is shot to death
0:11.2	inside her home, and Fred's current spouse, Lori Bembenick, is soon charged with the crime.
0:17.5	Even though Lori insists that she was framed, she is convicted of first-degree murder and receives a sentence of life imprisonment.
0:24.6	In 1990, Laurie manages to escape from prison with the assistance of her new spouse before they are recaptured in Canada.
0:31.6	But even though Laurie continues to maintain her innocence and receives a reduced sentence, Christine's murder remains shrouded
0:38.6	in controversy. After that, the trail went cold. and I'm not going to be. I'm not.
0:55.0	I'm not.
0:57.0	I'm not. Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of The Trail Went Cold.
1:24.6	I am your host Robin Werder, and we're going to be covering a very controversial case,
1:29.7	the 1981 murder of Christine Schultz. That voice you just heard narrating our intro was Brent Amlingmeyer,
1:36.9	the latest winner of our most recent Trail Went Cold listener voiceover contest, so thank you very much,
1:42.2	Brent. This is a recurring monthly contest which you've
1:45.4	been carrying on for nearly eight years now, so if you'd like to enter and haven't already done so,
1:50.3	I will be providing instructions near the end of this episode. Anyway, the murder of Christine
1:55.4	Schultz was the case that Brent requested I cover when he originally entered this contest,
1:59.9	but the whole story is so convoluted
2:02.1	that I will need multiple episodes to properly do it justice, so this will be part one of another two-part
2:08.4	series. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where the name of the victim is nowhere near as
2:14.2	well known as the name of the person who was accused of killing her,
2:19.6	Lori, Bambi, and Benick.
2:25.9	Many of you are probably familiar with the 2002 death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe,
	...

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